Fraud Friday – Dentist Charged for SBA Loan Fraud and Evading More Than $600,000 in Taxes
November 24, 2023
Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor
Fraud Friday – Dentist Charged for SBA Loan Fraud and Evading More Than $600,000 in Taxes
Matthew Johnson was indicted for orchestrating a fraud scheme that bilked the SBA of more than $3 million and for tax evasion. According to the indictment that was unsealed during Johnson’s initial court appearance, he was a dentist and oral surgeon that owned Johnson Oral Surgery in North Carolina. Additionally, he was the owner of a real estate development company known as Mount Mourne Springs LLC.
From 2018 to 2021, he allegedly submitted false and fraudulent loan applications under the names of his two businesses. Johnson provided false information regarding the status of his personal and business taxes and outstanding tax debts. The government stated in the indictment that one of the fraudulent documents Johnson included in the application was a fabricated letter that purported to be from the IRS. Johnson’s letter supposedly from the IRS represented that he was on a payment plan with the agency.
Based on the alleged false information and fraudulent documents, Johnson received more than $3 million in an SBA loan. Unlike what he claimed he would use the proceeds for in the application, the government is asserting that he used them for personal expenses such as travel, cash withdrawals, and to pay for home improvement projects and farm equipment.
He is further being accused of committing tax evasion. The indictment includes that from October 2015 to November 2021, Johnson failed to pay over $615,000 in taxes he owed to the IRS for tax years 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Johnson was released on bond and is being charged with wire fraud and tax evasion. The maximum penalties his charges carry amount to 25 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines.